Icicles

(If you haven't read the first book in the series, Silver, you should probably do that so that you're not confused.)
Christmas is coming, and that means everyone is reuniting for the season. It's been about a month since Cynthia's mother's mysterious death, and she's been living with her aunt (and her gender fluid cousin, Senakah). Mitsuri has begun to attend seventh grade, and is immediately cornered by Allison, a chocolate-loving girl who also has the ability to converse with dead souls of any kind. Evan is struggling to keep up with everything and doesn't trust the new faces, and how much they seem to know about what happened last month. All five are masking two nagging questions with feigned excitement for the season. Those being how did Cynthia's mother really die, and is everyone else in danger? Also, why is Senakah suspicious of Allison, especially when she complains of constant cold and ice forming on surfaces in her house?